Apparatus for ornamenting the surface of strip materials



I June 6, 1933. G. PRIFOLD 1,912,858

APPARATUS FOR ORNAMENTING THE SURFACE OF STRIP MATERIALS 7 Filed Feb. 8,1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l G. PRIFOLD Jul 1e 6, 1933.

APPARATUS FOR ORNAMENTING THE SURFACE OF STRIP MATERIALS Filed Feb. 8,1952 2 Sheets-Sheet i' w PM 7%. w;-

ATTORNEY Patented June 6, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT orrrce GEORGErEIroLn, E soMERvILLE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE COTT-A-LAP com:-PANY, 0E SOMERVILLE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION on NEW JERSEY APPARATUSFOR ORNAMENTING THE SURFACE OF STRIP MATERIALS Application filedFebruary 8, 1932. Serial No. 591,539

This invention relates to an apparatus for oriiamenting the surface ofstrip materials, andis directed particularly to giving strip materialsused as floor coverings a marblesas liln z appearance.

lhe new method includes the application to wet paints printed upon stripmaterial of turnable or rotary brushes so moved that there is at alltimes relative movement be tween the brushes and the strip material.This avoids blotches or brush marks on the material. a i a i Theapparatus for carrying out this method includes brushing meanssynchronized with the feeding mechanism of a print ing machine. Afeature of the invention consists in providing this device with abrushing attachment readily applicable toa block machine of the typecustomarily used in printing floor coverings; This brush attachment isan improvement of that shown in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,85i,524,issued to me on April 19, 1932. l

An illustrative machine embodying the apparatus features of my inventiondesigned to facilitate the carrying out of my new method is illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which: i r c Fig. 1 is a side elevationpartly broken away of a conventional block printing machine showing mybrushing attachment applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is an attachment c Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on theline 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 1 is a top view of a partial transverse section taken on the line47-4 of Fig. 3; c

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of a transverse section similar to Fig. 3,showing a modification of the invention; and c Fig. 6 is a top view of apartial transverse 'ection taken on the line 6- 6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 1 shows a block printingmachineof conventional construction] suchas is disclosed inU. S. Letters Patent No. 1,854,524, referred to above.It is provided with a bed 10 over which travel feeding bands .11 forintermittently. moving a strip of material along thebed, and with aplurality of printend'elevati'on of the brushing ingheads 13. At theright hand end of the figure is shown the customary mechanism'forcausing the intermittent movement of the feeding bands 11. a drum 14:for each band 11;, carrying a ratchet 15 which is engaged by a pawl 16oscillated by a segment gear 17 ona pivoted arm 18 which is lifted andallowed to fall through the engagement between a follower 19 and a cam20 lined on a cross-shaft 21 at the end of the machine. The cam rotatesin a clock wise direction so that the feeding bands 11 are moved duringmore than one-half of the revolution of the cam while the follower 19 istravelling on the rising face XY of the cam and remain stationary duringthe remainder of each revolution of the cam. The printing heads 13 areoperated intermittent ly by the usual cams 22 on cross-shafts 23 whosemovements are synchronized with those of the cross-shaft 21 of thefeeding mechanism by a longitudinal shaft 24 which is connected witheachof the cross-shafts by a gearing of the same gear ratio. The print ingheads are held in raised position during the movement of the feedingbands 11 and descend to apply paint from their painting blocks to thestrip material on the bed dur ing the periods when the feeding bandsllare stationary. c

As illustrated in Fig.1, one of the printing heads 13a is held up bymeans of blocks 25, so that it is out of contact with its cam,which may.be removed. On the cross-beams 26 (Fig. 2) ofthis printing head areclamped This mechanism includes two frames 27 in which are journalledtwo cross-shafts 128. 29. On the frames 27 are pivots 30 to which aresecured the upper ends of two arms 31 which depend between. thecross-beams 26 through the space ordinarily occupied by the printingblocks, which, in this case, are removed. The arms 31 contain slots 32into which project crank pins 33 on disks at fixed on the ends of theshaft 29. The lower ends of the arms 31 have a pin and slot connectionwiththe blocks 35 which are slidably mounted on rods 36 car ried byframes 37 clampedto the cross-beams 26. -To each of the blocks 35 isattached a brush 38, preferably in a position such that the separatedsets of bristles 39 will rest on the strip of material on the bed in aninclined position, as shown in Fig. 2, and described in my Patent No.1,854,524. In accordance with my present invention, the blocks servealso to support a number of turnable or rotatable brushes 50, which arepreferably positioned in advance of the brush 38. Relative longitudinalmovement is maintained at all times between the brushes 50 and the brush38 on the one hand, and the material on the other. The means by whichsuch relative movementis obtained is set forth in detail in Patent No.1,854,524 referred to above. Summarized briefiy,'it is accomplished asfollows:

The shaft 29 is driven from the cam-shaft 23a associated with theprinting head 13a,

by a pair of gears 40 and 41, fixed on the shafts 29 and 28,respectively, and a pair of sprockets 42 and 43 fixed on the shaft 28and its cam-shaft 23a and connected by a sprocket chain 44. The twogears and the two sprockets each have a one-to-one ratio, so that therate of revolution of the shaft 29 is equal to that of the cross-shaft23a and also that of the cross-shaft 21. By proper positioning of theparts when the sprocket chain 44 is applied, the crank pins 33 areplaced in their uppermost positions when the middle point Z of therising surface XY of the cam is in engagement with the fo lower 19.Since the shaft 29 and the cross-shaft 21 rotate in the same directionand at the same speed, the blocks 35 have a back and forth movementsynchronized with the intermittent movement of the feeding band 11 andthe strip of material carried thereby. The amplitude of thereciprocation of the block 35 is considerably less than the distancetravelled by the material at each movement thereof, the latter beingequal. to the distance between successive printing heads. The blocks 35are accordingly moved forward at a slower rate than that of the materialduring the forward movements of the material and since the materialmoves forward for more than one-half the revolution of cam 20, asdescribed above, the blocks 35 are moved back over the surface of thematerial during the periods when the material is at rest, and alsoduring the moments when the material starts and stops its movement. Thelength of the arm 31, which is effective in rotating the disc 34, variesaccording to the position of the crank pin 33 in the slot 32. \Vhen thecrank pin engages the upper end of the slot, the effective length of thearm 31 is shorter than when the crank pin is nearer the lower end of theslot 32. In this way the blocks 34 are given a relatively long rearwardmovement and a relatively short forward movement. The material is movedforward during more than one-half of the revolution of the cross-shaft,while the block 35 is moved backward during more than one half of eachsuch revolution, thereby insuring backward travel of the blocks 35during the moments when the ma terial is starting and stopping. Theuninterrupted relative movement between the brush 38 and the materialproduces the streaked effect without any marring blotches or marks,disclosed in my Patent No. 1,854,- 524.

By the provision of the rotary brushes described herein, the material isgiven a man ble-like appearance. This result is a marked departure fromthe result obtained in my Patent No. 1,854,524, wherein the lines ofdemarcation between the different colors ran substantially parallel tothe line of the strip.

Supported on the crossbeam 26 of the printing head is the frame 49, inwhich is Journalled the short shaft 48 supporting the gear 52 and themiter gear 53a. The gear .52 is actuated by the gear 51 positionedatfthe extremity of shaft 28 which extends through the frame 49 as wellasframe 27. The miter gear 530 engages the miter gear 53?) mounted onthe top of the telescopic shaft 54 through which power is delivered tothe rotary brushes in the manner hereinafter described. Adjacent eachend the shaft 54 is provided with universal joints 57a and 57?) wherebya high degree of flexibility is given to said shaft.

The forward end of each of the blocks 35 is bifurcated to receive arotatable pinion 59 which is driven directly by the lower end of theshaft 54. Extending transversely across the printing machine betweeneach pair of blocks 35 is a stringer or bifurcated member 58, in whichis mounted a train of gears 55, actuated by the pinion 59. The brushesare spaced at suitable distances beneath the st inger 58, and are drivenby individual gears 55 through depending shafts 56 journalled verticallyin the stringer 58. Because of the extensibility of the telescopic shaft54 and the flexibility provided by the 1l1ll-' versal joints 57a and57?), rotary motion will be transmitted to the pinion 59 at all timesduring the reeiprocatory movement of the blocks Since the shaft 28 iscontinuously rotated in the same direction, it will be readily seen thatthe brushes 55 will be continuously V rotated in the same directionthrough the miter gears 53a and 535, the shaft 54, the gears 55 anddepending shafts 56, and the direction of rotation of the brushes 50will not in the directionof the blocks In Figs. 5 and 6, a modified formof the invention is illustrated. In this rack 60 is provided on theinside of the frames 37 and a pinion 61, adapted to engage and travel onthe rack 60, is mounted on the rod 62 which in turn is ixed at its lowerend to one of the gears 55. Since the rack is stabe interrupted bychanges longitudinal movement of embodiment, a

, 5 the block is moving rearward the pinionwill rotate mithe oppositedirection. Thus each of the brushes will be rotated firstin onedirection and then intheopposite direction through the intermediateaction of the train ofgears 55, theextent of rotation depending upon thelength of travel of the pinion 61 on the rack 60. a L a In both of theembodiments of my inventi on disclosed herein, the surface of thematerial being treated will continuously be subjected to the spiral orrotary motion of a plurality of brus es, thus giving a marble-likeappearance to the material. i

lVhat I claim is a a a 1. In a printing machine, the combinationof'feedingmechanism for causing intermittent movement of strip material,a carrier reciprocated in synchronism with the movements of the feedingmechanism, a brush turnably mounted on said carrier, and means forturning the brush during the reciprocation of the carrier.

2. In a printing machine, the combination of feeding mechanism forcausing intermittent movement of strip material, a carrier reciprocatedin synchronism with the movements of the feeding mechanism, a brushturnably mounted on said carrier, and means for continuously rotatingthe brush during the reciprocation of the carrier.

3. In a block printing machine of usual construction, means for holdingup one of the printing blocks, a carrier mounted on, said printingblock, means mounted on the crossshaft associated with that printinghead for oscilla-ting'said carrier in synchronism with the movements ofthe feeding mechanism of the machine, a brush rotatably mounted on saidcarrier, and a flexible driving connec tion between said cross-shaft andsaid brush.

4:. In a printing machine, the combination of feeding mechanism forcausing intermittent movement of strip material, a carrier reciprocatedin synchronism with the movements of the feeding mechanism, a brushturnably mounted on said carrier, and means for turning said brush firstone way and then the other during the reciprocation of the carrier.

' 5. In a printing machine, the combination of feeding mechanism forcausingintermittent movement of strip material, a carrier reciprocatedin synchronism with the movements of the feeding mechanism, a brushturnably mounted on said carrier, and means actuated by thereciprocation of the carrier for turning said brush first one way andthen the other. i

a 6. In a printing apparatus, the combinae5 tionof a feeding mechanismfor causing intermittent movement of stripmaterial, a reciprocatorymember, means for reciprocating said member longitudinally of the stripmaterial so timed that said member changes direction of movement whilethe material is moving, a turnably mounted brush and means actuated bysaid reciprocatory member for turning said brush first in one directionand then inthe other.

7. Ina block printing machine of usual construction, means for holdingup one of the printing blocks, a carrier movably mounted on saidprinting block, means driven by the cross-shaft associated with thatprinting head for oscillating said carrier in synchronism' with themovements of the feeding mechanism of the machine, a brush turnablywanted on said carrier, and means for turning said brush comprising apinion fixed to the brush and a rack fixed. on the printing head. a

8. In a printing machine, the combination of feeding mechanism forcausing intermittent movement of strip material, a carrier reciprocatedin synchronism with the movements of the feeding mechanism, a brushturnably mounted on said carrier, and means for turning the brush aduring the reciprocation of the carrier, and abrush fixed on saidcarrier behind said turnable brush.

9. Ina printing machine, the combination of feeding mechanism forcausing intermittentmoveme ntof zs'trip material, a carrier reciproeatedin-synchronism with the movements of the feeding mechanism, a brushturnablymounted on said carrier, and means for continuouslyrotating thebrush during the reciprocation'of the carrier, and a brush fixed on saidcarrierbehind said turnable 37,10, In a block printing machine of usualconstruction, means for holding up one of the printing; blocks, acarrier mounted on said printing block, means mounted on the crossshaftassociated with that printing head for oscillating said carrier insynchronism with the movements of the feeding mechanism of the machine,'a brush-rotatably mounted on said carrier, and a flexible drivingconnection between said cross-shaft, and said brush, and a brush fixedon said carrier behind said turnable brush; a p a r f 11. Inaprintingmachine, the combination of feeding mechanism for causing intermittentmovement of strip material, a carrier reciprocated in synchronism withthe movemen's of the feeding mechanism, a brush turnably mountedonsaidcarrier, and means for turning said brush first one way and then theother during thereciprocation of the carrier, and abrush fixed on saidcarrier behind said turnable brush;

I 12. In a printing machine, the combination of feeding mechanism forcausing intermittent movement of strlp material, a carrier reciprocatedin synchronism with the movements of the feeding mechanism, a brushturnably mounted on said carrier, and means actuated by thereciprocation of the carrier for turning said brush first one way andthen the other, and a'brush fixed on said carrier behind said turnablebrush.

13. In a printing apparatus, the combination of a feeding mechanism forcausing intermittent movement of strip material, a reciprocatory member,means for reciprocating said member longitudinally of the strip materialso timed that said member changes direction of movement while thematerial is moving, a turnably mounted brush and means actuated by saidreciprocatory member for turning said brush first in one direction andthen in the other, and a brush fixed on said carrier behind saidturnable brush.

14. In a block printing machine of usual construction, means for holdingup one of the printing blocks, a carrier movably mounted on saidprinting block, means driven by the cross-shaft associated with thatprinting head for oscillating said carrier in synchronism with themovements of the feeding mechanism of the machine, a brush turnablymounted on said carrier, and means for turning said brush comprising apinion fixed to the brush and a rack fixed on the printing along saidbed and printing heads for printing on said material during its periodsof rest, of a brush carrier above the strip material on the bed of themachine, means for giving the brush carrier a reciprocatory movementhaving an amplitude less than the distance between successive printingheads, and includ- 1ng a relatively long rearward movement and arelatively short forward movement, the latter occurring during theforward movement of the feeding mechanism, a brush turnably mounted onsaid carrier and means for turning said brush first one way and then theother during the reciprocation of the carrier.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

GEORGE PRIFOLD.

head, and a brush fixed on said carrier behind said turnable brush.

15. The combination with a block printing machine having a bed and meansfor causing intermittent movement of a strip of material along said bedand printing heads for printing on said material during its periods ofrest, of a brush carrier above the strip material on the bed of themachine, means for giving the brush carrier a reciprocatory movementhaving an amplitude less than the distance between successive printingheads, and including a relatively long rearward movement and arelatively short forward movement, the latter occurring during theforward movement of the feeding mechanism, a brush turnably mounted onsaid car rier and means for turning said brush during reciprocation ofthe carrier.

16. The combination with a block printing machine having a bed and meansfor causing intermittent movement of a strip of material along said bedand printing heads for printing on said material during its periods ofrest, of a brush carrier above the strip material on the bed of thegiving the brush carrier a reciprocatory movement having an amplitudeless than the distance between successive printing heads, and includinga relatively long rearward movement and a relatively short forwardmovement, the latter occurring during the forward movement nism, a brushturnably mounted on said carrier and means for continuously rotatingsaid machine, means for of the feeding mecha-'

